Iranshar, Land of Fire

East of Kingir and sprawling so far as the Indus River is the vast desolation known as Iranshar. Housing an ancient and vital civilization, Iranshar is mostly (80%) desert, with much of the land receiving too little water to even sustain plant life. The coasts of Iranshar are on the western gulf and the northern Sea of Qavin, a large inland sea believed to hold marid palaces. Iranshar has a rich history, starting with the elemental lords who were contracted to terraform the world in anticipation of sentient life. The various geniekind built stable platforms for themselves before working on the planet, and when the gods formed sentient lifeforms, demanded they receive some as part of their pay. While kindly, the genie races used the creatures to relieve their urges, begetting the race of peri (genasi) on them. The children of these liaisons were prolific and spread throughout the land of Iranshar, forming settlements that grew around various economic concerns, usually on the territory of their genie ancestor. These men and their extended families controlled vast estates, and secured trade routes via intermediaries who evolved into an internal order that answered to no one house but served them all as subordinates. A Directorate was formed to oversee these intermediaries, who examined circumstances and handed down rulings based on the law. The powerful magistrates maintain a strict supervision of peri practices in accordance with laws laid down in ancient times, some claiming from the first colonists of the City of Brass, interpreted by the courts through the hymns of their ancient sages. The courts were funded by a portion allotted them from trade, which they maintained troops and diplomats to maintain relations with the noble families. The Magi, a people originally fishermen on the shores of the Sea of Qavin, were granted the courts under the third government to hold the Peacock Throne and have maintained their power there since. The nobles are kings in their own right, with absolute power and the ability to decree law, but the magistrates actually try cases and interpret the law through various debates disseminated through the immense bureaucracy messenger service. The nobles can only be overruled by Arshu, who is supreme in Iranshar. The nobles are relics of four different regimes, the last of which was Alexander’s short-lived empire. The Alexandrian Succession thinned the ranks but Arshu’s ascension to the Peacock Throne has allowed a restoration of sorts and with it the stability to reassert themselves, including claiming portion of the Boy Hunt. Arcane casters once faced the death penalty as witches, but now are bound to Arshu’s academy at Ecbatana as slaves. Most peri are lifelong slaves due to the Boy Hunt. By law, the courts lay claim to the sons once they are weaned, exempting only the oldest son of any non-noble family and the sons of the nobles. These boys are claimed and tested, ending up in the bureaucracy or the military as results are interpreted. The Magi claim to be as adept in assessing boys as herders are in assessing horses, and those collected are castrated shortly after being taken. These eunuchs are slaves of the government itself as well the bureaucrats who staff it, beholden to the courts under the Magi and the military under the nobles, who assign them their offices and duties. Both educate their eunuch slaves as needed, with the Ecbatana Academy producing specialist wizards who elevate to the Red Wizard prestige class upon graduation and the warmages that form the core of Arshu’s military, while the Magi train their scholar-priests (shugenja) in a mentor program maintained across the nation as magistrates and lawyers. Because of the official religion of Iranshar, the dead receive air burials-being eaten by scavengers-rather than burial or cremation, to avoid contaminating the earth or fire. The elements are sacred, with Fire seen as the Thought of God. As a result, every city holds a fire that is kept burning continually, and three great fires are kept for the kings, the priests, and the common man. The locations of these fires is kept secret, though each becomes a pilgrimage sight for certain events. Nobles take their titles at the fire of kings, and priests take their vows and are assigned rank at their fire. Most rites of passage and marriages are acknowledged at the city's local fire. Most undead in Iranshar are incorporeal, and roam the desert nights in number. Entire armies have been seen sacking towns that no longer exist, and rumors of a horrific ghost government make regular rounds. The ghosts and the divs compete for dominance, but both factions share a common enemy in the living which tends to take precedence over their personal animosity. Trade and Diplomacy: Iranshar controls access to the Maurya Empire and thus, the Old Silk Road to the Middle Kingdom. The courts control the marketplace, ostensibly for regulatory purposes, but a magistrate oversees any dealings with aliens, incurring detrimental fees. It’s methods of production allow it not only the usual produce of tropical territories, but fabulous clockwork devices and strange magical items made nowhere else. Peri cloths and weavings are highly valued throughout the Ancient World. Marketplaces are carefully monitored by the bureaucracy which establishes weights and measures and ensures fair trade. Their ports grant them control of the entire gulf off their coast and secure sea trade with Khemet. Classes: Artificers dwell in the greater urban areas, and are generally noted for their clockwork devices and bizarre masterwork weaving magicked into wondrous items. Beguilers fill the streets and markets of Iranshar, so populace as to form strange brotherhoods that conspire to control criminal activities in a region and thereby profit. Some few beguilers seek legitimate work as entertainers or advisors, and many consult with the powerful magistrates and military of the land. Their lack of necromancy and conjuration magics make the divs and spirits consider them harmless. The courts do not regard them as tainted as other arcane casters and do not persecute them. However, beguilers are a local phenomenon, with masters and apprentices instead of the Ecbatana Academy training of specialists and warmages. Shugenja is the priesthood of Iranshar and the judges default to this class. The strength of the judiciary is such shugenja should be considered a favored class of peri. Iranshar shugenja are the lords of the court and a protected political society in itself. Many of them are eunuchs, though this is not a requirement, just the circumstance of the Boy Hunt. Sorcerers are fairly rare but do occur. Mysterious and eccentric, many reside as hermits in the lands bordering the salt wastes and are known to local lore as holy men or servants of the divs. Their spell selection must take into account that certain magics are inherently unclean and considered witchcraft by law. Spellthieves are very common in Iranshar, comprising much of the hereditary nobles. These few and far between individuals hearken back to one of four governments to have held the land, the Old Houses, or are newly elevated by Arshu as the Military. Warmages are the default arcane caster in Persia. Most are graduates at Ecbatana, the military academy, though their curriculum stresses specialized arcana, those who cannot obtain the focus of a specialist outnumber those who can. Warmages are the NCOs of the Iranshar military, and all are eunuchs. Wizards are renowned scholars gathered into libraries and observatories where they examine the world. The Red Academy at Ecbatana trains specialist wizards for the Persian military, who train for the Red Wizard prestige class. Red Wizards form an arcane aristocracy through their position as military officers, competing with the noble houses of three previous regimes that ruled Iranshar and the Magi courtiers. History: The Iranshar Deserts were originally an outpost of the elemental planes, who were hired to transform the world into something more habitable for the intended creation of worshipers for the gods. When sentient species were created by their respective deities, the geniekind races had not yet finished their work, so demanded a portion of the new creatures for their workings, which were kept as slave stock, raised in an elaborate regime of behavior and etiquette that persevered long after the genies finished their work. Interbreeding with the slaves resulted in the peri who now inhabit Iranshar(peri are simply genasi, but always investing heavily in elemental and geniekind bloodlines). None know why (or truly when) geniekind returned to the Elemental Planes (though some did not and remained in their private estates), only that they left everything behind when they did, even their half-blood offspring, who united and swept out to conquer what was there. It is believed the root cause of the mass migration was due to the presence of the divs, evil elemental demons who inhabit the wastelands of Iranshar, resulting in the desert reasons being too dry for even plant life to grow, and explaining to a certain degree why the palaces of the marids lining the Iranshar coasts are still abundantly active, while the other races of geniekind are largely missing save for isolated enclaves. (The volcanoes of Iranshar all hold efreet fortresses with salamander troops, focused on the div menace and ignoring the peri and other sentient species entirely, the deep mines are yet home to dao who trade their metals and jewels for slaves in vast subterranean cities greatly feared by the locals, while djinn act as intermediaries and diplomats with the Magi of Iranshar, serving as the only information Iranshar receives on the Div Conflicts. Such individuals often reside in Magisterial palaces, honored guests who advise on law as well as warning when the conflicts will approach peri settlements) The geniekind influences are srrong but no peri will ever admit to a non-peri they even exist-geniekind is not to be spoken of to outsiders. When the efreeti hegemony controlled the area, all of the Khna Ports fell to them and their armies pressed northward, skirting Kingir until they crossed swords with the satyr of Hellas, who broke their wave of conquest and turned it back with Alexander at it’s head. Alexander placed a general atop the intricate bureaucracy already in place before dying and wrote new laws in Sylvan to replace the geniekind records that preceded him, driving geniekind from power to their current place in Iranshar society but as the wars of Alexandrian succession devastated Iranshar, Alexander's laws were abandoned and the Magi (a tribe inhabiting the coasts of Lake Qavin) came to dominate, then absolutely control, the courts of Iranshar through the bureaucracy that maintained them, often with guidance and assistance from the djinn. The overlords Alexander installed were soon gone, having culled themselves with minimal geniekind aid, though the presence of the kindly djinn was felt in the maintenance of the Iranshar magistracy and it's competence in holding the land at peace and relative prosperity despite it's resources. By the time the Empire had conquered the bulk of Alexander’s lands, the Magi controlled the courts and held all judicial positions, assigning troops to officers held in check by salaries the courts controlled. Magi gathered the taxes, funded public services, and even paid the armies that kept the Empire at bay until Arshu found his way to the highest office in Iranshar and became Shashan. Arshu is the fourth government of Iranshar, preceded by the Efreeti Hegemony, the peri nobility, then the Alexandrian generals, all three of which have left nobles dotting the land hoiding wealth and power vastly beyond even that of Arshu, who towers greatly over the average citizen. The aristocrats of these regimes have settled into a hierarchy with Arshu at it's head as Shashan, but their wealth far outstrips his. The Efreeti hegemons serve due to his pure bloodline (two fire elemental bloodline levels and three efreet ones makes him the purest efreet blood in the land, which they esteem more than his ceded position as defender of the land), the peri nobility see him as a throwback to their heyday (and their influence is the greatest impact on Iranshar society), while the Alexandrian generals who remain have gone native and joined with the peri noblemen though most are satyr, many with an investment in elemental and geniekind bloodlines.